Staff Software Engineer, Unreal Ecosystem (Australia-Based; Relocation Provided)

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains.

The Unreal Ecosystem (UnEco) team has an impact on a wide array of topics, including runtime performance, tooling, CI/CD, just to name a few. As a Staff Software Engineer on the UnEco team, you'll drive the technical direction of your team and influence strategy across related teams, building a strong engineering vision and offering creative solutions to technical problems that empower game teams across Riot.

The team collaborates globally with partners across Riot, all contributing to a stronger, more efficient Unreal development ecosystem. You'll lead the breakdown of complex, cross-team technical challenges - from build systems to editor tooling to runtime infrastructure - championing solutions in alignment with game teams and partners that empower the developers who depend on your work.

This is a full-time role based in Australia (AEST timezone). Internal Job Title: Software Engineer III 

Work arrangement: Sydney-based Rioters work on-site. Remote work is available for candidates elsewhere in AEST-aligned Australia (e.g. Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra) with Australian work rights. Perth and Darwin are not suitable due to timezone overlap.

Relocation & Immigration Support: Candidates who require visa sponsorship must be based in, or relocate to, Sydney. Riot offers relocation assistance and will sponsor the appropriate work visa, subject to eligibility and local immigration requirements.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, and maintenance of shared libraries, plugins, and tools used by multiple game teams - driving platform-wide consistency and maintainability while balancing individual team needs.
• Drive technical roadmapping for platform capabilities, setting direction that balances immediate game team needs with long-term architectural vision.
• Champion technical designs in alignment with game teams and partners, navigating tradeoffs and building consensus across diverse stakeholders.
• Lead and participate in the technical planning process, breaking down multi-month work efforts and sequencing delivery across the team.
• Uphold a high standard of engineering excellence. Lead code reviews, drive testing strategy, and contribute to continuous improvement of team and cross-team practices.
• Write clear documentation and communicate technical details across teams and disciplines.
• Lead and participate in the on-call rotation; resolve live incidents, drive RCAs, and champion systemic fixes to reduce future impact.
• Mentor engineers on the team in both technical and soft skills; help level up developers across disciplines.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, or a comparable field, or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years experience in professional software development.
• 4+ years of professional experience and proficiency with C++.
• Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals (data structures, algorithms, concurrency, etc.).
• Demonstrated experience leading technical work that impacts multiple teams.
• Experience driving technical direction, designing solutions, and reviewing the designs of others.
• Experience building software used by other engineering teams and navigating cross-team dependencies, rather than deep single-team, single-feature ownership.
• Experience mentoring and growing other engineers.
• Experience working in cross-functional teams and collaborating across disciplines.
• Strong communication within and across teams, with the ability to clearly articulate tradeoffs and build alignment.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with a modern game engine (Unreal or Unity), or experience building games.
• Experience with Unreal Engine specifically - particularly C++ plugin development, editor tooling, or build systems.
• Experience building developer tools, CI/CD pipelines, or internal platform infrastructure.
• Experience supporting or consulting with multiple product teams as a platform or tools engineer.
• Familiarity with game development workflows and pain points (understanding the domain helps you build better tools).

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about the experiences of developers, this could be the role for you!

Working closely with Riot teams globally, Riot Sydney is a powerhouse of talent, and experts in global development. Our team works on VALORANT, League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics, alongside exciting R&D and Tech projects.

If you believe that the Player Experience comes first, we want to hear from you. Our players are a diverse group from different backgrounds, and we want to see that reflected in the people who make our games, all qualified applicants will be considered for employment

Our Perks:

At Riot we strongly believe in work / life balance, and we encourage that with our open paid time off policy, paid parental leave (for both primary and secondary carers) and flexible work schedules to fit your lifestyle. We also believe that work should be fun, we have co-op gaming areas, a play fund so you can broaden and deepen your knowledge of players and community, and all the snacks you would ever need to power through your day (even healthy snacks!). And that’s not all we offer, there’s also:

• Medical Insurance that covers you and your dependents
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellness fund
• Donation matching of time and money to registered charities
• Learning and Development opportunities

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming.